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League of Ireland clubs continue to face big financial challenges. A number of clubs have gone bankrupt and others have only just survived. Bray Wanderers (a club whose ground I have visited) are the latest club in trouble.
Bayern Munich aim to be the world’s richest club and their latest financial results show that they are well on the way there. On a turnover of £417m they recorded a prodit of £13m. 20 per cent of their revenue came from merchandise sales.
Unlike rivals Manchester United and Real Madrid, they are free of debt.
The BBC has brought out its latest price of football study and reports that the cost of the cheapest ticket in all four divisions has increased at twice the rate of inflation since 2011. Of course, the rate of inflation is an average figure and some goods and services go up at a higher rate and others at a lower rate, but that’s not much consolation for football fans.
Uefa have been urged by Manchester City not to penalise wealthy benefactors under their financial fair play (FFP) rules. The meeting with Uefa president Michel Platini was also attended by Paris Saint Germain who, along with City, have received the heaviest penalties so far under the FFP rules.
Jean Louis-Dupont was the Belgian lawyer who won the Bosman case which transformed football. More recently, he has been taking on Uefa’s financial fair play (FFP) rules.
The argument he is putting forward, which we think has some credence, is that by limiting investment FFP is violating European competition law and that the exemptions Uefa may call upon do not apply. A range of plaintiffs have joined the action including football agents and the Manchester City supporters club.
West Ham might be prepared to allow Tottenham Hotspur to share the Olympic Stadium while White Hart Lane is being redeveloped. At first it was thought that this would not be possible because the clubs were rivals for the tenancy.
West Ham would not be prepared to share the stadium in their first year there in 2016-17. However, they might be prepared to allow Spurs to rent the stadium in 2017-18.
Manchester United are interested in having sponsorship on the back of replica shirts. At present it is allowed in the FA Cup but not in the Premiership.
However, the other Premier League clubs are opposed to the idea. They think that there is a risk of diluting the impact of a club’s main shirt sponsor. They also do not want football players to look like Formula One drivers who often have sponsorship logos all over their kit.
Bolton Wanderers is for sale to the right purchaser, but the question is whether any purchaser can be found. Not only are the club bottom of the Championship, but they are £160m in debt.
There has been more turmoil at Rangers after Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley called for a special shareholders’ meeting to remove two senior executives from the board. His targets are chief executive Graham Wallace, a former chief executive of Manchester City who has been in post for less than a year, and Philip Nash, a former finance of director of Liverpool, who has been on the board for less than three months as a consultant director.
Uefa is considering changes in its financial fair play regulations which would target the amount of debt accumulated by clubs. This would hit Manchester United and Real Madrid in particular.